Join the Conversation

'Credible' leads surface in 1978 Menasha murder case

Dawn Schnetzer, a 17-year-old Menasha girl, was last seen in September 1978 in Menasha and several weeks later turned up dead in a wooded area in Calumet County. (July 2013)
Wm. Glasheen/Post-Crescent Media

Gary Steier, Calumet County Sheriff’s Department sergeant/investigator, who is in charge of the cold-case investigation into the 1978 murder of Dawn Schnetzer of Menasha, stands on Willow Road near County BB, the site where Schnetzer’s body was discovered(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/Post-Crescent Media)Buy Photo

Investigators say credible leads have emerged in the case of Menasha teenager Dawn Schnetzer, who was murdered nearly 36 years ago and dumped in a Calumet County woods.

"It's a matter of seeing what we can learn about them," Gary Steier, a sergeant investigator with the Calumet County Sheriff's Department, told Post-Crescent Media. "It's a lot of legwork, but some credible (information) has come in."

Steier cautioned that an arrest is not imminent and stressed that the investigation into the slaying of the 17-year-old Schnetzer is complicated by the age of the case and the unavailability of witnesses who have since moved from the Fox Valley or, in some cases, passed away.

But he said the new leads are promising.

"It's a good sign to have information that hasn't come forward (previously)," Steier said. "Whether we can actually track it down is another matter. It has some credibility to it. (The leads) just need to be checked."

Schnetzer's decomposed body was found on Nov. 4, 1978, by a farmer who was cutting wood in the Calumet County Town of Woodville. She had disappeared about six weeks earlier after being dropped off by a motorcyclist in the 600 block of Broad Street in Menasha. She was in Hortonville earlier that mid-September day.

Her body was found roughly 10 miles from where she was last seen. Authorities are unsure if Schnetzer was killed before being taken to the Calumet County wooded area, or if she was murdered there. The Menasha Police Department and the Wisconsin Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation also are working on the case.

Cold Cases series aids investigation

The Schnetzer case was profiled extensively in Post-Crescent Media in July 2013 as part of a monthlong series by Gannett Wisconsin Media on cold cases in Wisconsin.

Steier said the coverage has assisted in the investigation.

"It has helped. I don't think we'd be where we're at now if it wasn't for the pictures and the publicity that (were) brought out," he said. "That has helped to move this forward."

Menasha police officer Aaron Zemlock said the coverage "redirected" the public's attention to the Schnetzer murder.

"A lot of it came when The Post-Crescent ran the article on the cold cases," he said. "It generated some leads that we're following up on."

Zemlock said Lt. Ron Bouchard and Investigator Stephanie Gruss have spent "considerable time" going over case files and working on new angles.

"We're re-interviewing people from the past and talking to people again to clarify information that had been said previously," Zemlock said. "This is as active as any other investigation we have had. We owe it to the family (of Dawn Schnetzer).

"These are cases you don't rush to judgment on. You're talking about a homicide case and you can't make a mistake. It's going to take as long as it takes."

Zemlock said the Schnetzer case hasn't been forgotten in Menasha.

"Menasha is a tight-knit community," he said. "When it happened, it was a city of about 14,000. Being tight-knit, people are connected and they don't let things like that go. It's their community and they want somebody to pay for what happened."

Steier said he's aware that the case still is of great interest to Menasha residents.

"It bothers them," he said. "They call us with (potential) angles. It's still in people's minds; especially people who knew her."

Buy Photo

Dawn Schnetzer’s body was discovered in November 1978 near this site in Calumet County. Her body was found in the wooded area off Willow Road near County BB.(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/Post-Crescent Media)

DNA profile could pay dividends

The file for the Schnetzer investigation is 1,500 pages, and investigators are wading through reports to determine the whereabouts of people who Schnetzer may have associated with at the time of her disappearance.

"We're trying to follow up and dig into records and verify where people were back in 1978," Steier said. "We're still interviewing people."

Steier declined to go into specifics about potential suspects other than to say "it's kind of open-ended."

Meanwhile, evidence from the crime scene either has undergone — or is presently undergoing — DNA testing, Steiler said.

That includes a flannel shirt that was found near Schnetzer's body, next to a culvert leading into the woods. The shirt is being tested at an FBI crime lab and is part of a DNA profile being developed in the Schnetzer case, according to Steier.

The profile, which includes other items of evidence collected over the years, has yet to be matched to a suspect from a DNA databank, he said.

If that match someday occurs, "it would definitely be a launching point for the case, but it would still need to be followed up," Steier said.

"That's why we continue to work on it. If we get a match, it could be a huge breakthrough. (But) it's not quite like the smoking gun."

Steier said "hundreds of suspects" have surfaced over the years. But additional investigative work and DNA testing have whittled down the list.

Investigators ask anyone with information about 1978 murder victim Dawn Schnetzer to call Sergeant/Investigator Gary Steier of the Calumet County Sheriff's Department at 920-849-2361, ext. 791; Calumet County Crimestoppers at 877-SOLVE CRIME, or the Menasha Police Department at 920-967-3500.

What happened to Dawn?

Dawn Schnetzer's body was found on Nov. 4, 1978, by a farmer who was cutting wood. But the story of what happened to the Menasha girl and the mystery surrounding her disappearance began unfolding two months earlier.

Schnetzer reported to work on Sept. 15 at the former Hortonville Manufacturing Co. — better known as the toy factory — to work a shift as a toy painter. After leaving work that night, Schnetzer visited a Hortonville tavern.

A man gave Schnetzer a ride home on his motorcycle, dropping her off early the following morning in the 600 block of Broad Street, a short distance from where she was staying with a friend. It was the last time Schnetzer was seen alive.

Then came the report of an unidentified body discovered in Calumet County, roughly 8 miles from where Schnetzer was last seen. The remains were found just north of then-County B and Brant St. John Road, which is now known as Willow Road. County B is now known as County BB. The site of the discovery is a short distance from U.S. 10 and 3 miles east of Sherwood.

Authorities are unsure whether Schnetzer was killed at the scene or if she was killed beforehand and dragged into the woods. She was wearing only socks when she was discovered.

Authorities said Schnetzer's body was found 75 to 85 feet into the woods, near a fallen tree. Articles of clothing were found within 25 feet of her body, and a red and blue flannel shirt was discovered next to a culvert leading into the woods. It hasn't been determined who was wearing the shirt.